Across the Universe
by Talaco
Summary: [K/K] [For Talya Firedancer's Fanfiction Challenge] AU. Death fic. Gunshot. {One-shot}


DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rurouni Kenshin  
WARNINGS: Implication of sex, violence, death.  
NOTES: Song is performed by Fiona Apple but was originally written by the  
Beatles. Written for Firedancer's Shot in the Head fanfiction contest.

* * *

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

* * *

How do you clean blood off of fabrics? Easy.

Blot the blood with an absorbent cloth and then use a small amount of hydrogen  
peroxide and work it into the stain with a toothbrush or small brush.

How do you clean semen off of sheets? Easy.

Rub white chalk into the stain before laundering. Rub with damp cloth dipped  
in Borax. Apply a paste of cornstarch and water, let dry and brush off.

How do you clean blood off of your hands? Easy.

Soap and water. The rest is up to your mind.

How do you wash away memories? Easy.

Destroy them.

I met a girl.

In the first couple of times, we both already mastered all the Kama Sutra  
positions, used rubber kitchen gloves, belts, whipped cream, handcuffs­ you  
name it. I like it this way. It's fast, rough, and messy. To be drowning in  
ecstasy, lust, and sex made you forget about the little things in life. Like  
knowing in the back of your mind that you're an assassin of the Choshu  
organization and your target is this person you've been humping for weeks. I  
suppose these things happen. It can be easily rectified, though.

It's still dark when I wake up, and I find her curled up next to me. There is  
nothing special about her looks, but she is very pretty. Long, black hair,  
milky skin, calloused hands, and blue eyes. And for a second I think that if  
she dies here and now, she will be mine alone. Forever.

I shrug off from her loose embrace and start getting dressed. It doesn't have  
this be this way, even if it's Katsura's order. His word is law. Straight from  
God's lips to my ear, but I forgot about that and this is the result.

I feel something when I'm with her.

I feel pain.

Happiness.

Like a human.

And then I knew I waited too long.

I suddenly say, "Don't take this personally, but I have to kill you now."

Her eyes open slowly, and she glances at the clock. "Gosh, so early? Can't you  
wait?" She smiles lazily at me, and takes my wrist gently. "Come back to bed."

From under the pillow I take out my revolver, and wave it into her face. "No."

"Do you get homicidal urges all the time? Or is it just after sex?" She rubs  
an eye, not particularly surprised. "You say that every morning after we do  
it. Can't you just get over with it?"

My mouth twitches. "It's going to be all over."

Silence.

"I'm taking a shower. Don't come in and kill me." She grabs a white towel, and   
wrap it around her while she walks to the bathroom door. Modesty is quite  
forgotten. "I don't want to die naked."

"When they make an autopsy on you at the morgue, you're going to have to be  
naked, anyway." I tell her and she slams the door shut. "You're just making  
their job easier by cleaning yourself up."

As I'm listening to the sound of water splashing, I take a look around the  
small, dingy room. Cum stains everywhere, condoms that looks like dead  
jellyfishes on the floor, grubby sheets­ it's a mess. My hands are itching to  
clean, but that comes later. After. When everything is over, I can scrub it  
away like it was never there. Like washing blood off hands you pretend were  
always clean.

She comes out fully dressed just when I'm putting a bullet in my gun, and she  
faces herself in the mirror. She turns on the radio, and starts to sing softly  
while brushing her hair._ Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my  
opened mind, possessing and caressing me._

She stops singing, and turns to look at me. "Does it hurt to die?"

I lean against the dresser across from the bed, and spin the revolver idly.  
"Of course not. Living hurts more."

"I see."

She takes a last look at herself in the mirror and twirls around, grinning at  
me stupidly while dancing with the music. Her arms flails gracefully in the  
air, like a little bird trying to fly. The music flows throughout the room,  
like a lullaby. She finally sits on the foot of the bed and there is no fear,  
no regret, no desperation. "Don't you have any rites or prayers? Or do you  
just blow their brains out?"

"The latter one."

"I see."

Silence.

"Kenshin?"

"Yes?"

_Nothing´s gonna change my world  
Nothing´s gonna change my world_

"I have no one," she says. "No one will remember me. No one will miss me. No  
one will care." I stare into those unnaturally blue eyes, and push the hammer  
down. She looks so young.

"Is that why you want to die?"

She shrugs. "I guess. I really have no reason to live."

"You don't need a reason to live," I say. "You just live because you have a  
life."

Her face becomes blank, and she shakes her head. "I'm sorry you think that  
way." _Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes, that  
call me on and on across the universe._

"Are you finished?" I ask, feeling impatient.

She nods, and then sits up, chin tilted high. "It's been nice knowing you,  
Kenshin." _Inside a letter box they tumble blindly as they make their way  
across the universe. _I hesistant for a second, watching her prepare herself  
like we were about to perfrom some kind of ritual. Then I say:

"Shinta."

"What?"

"My name is Shinta," I say slowly.

This is the least I can do.

Give her a part of myself I've lost long, long ago.

Her eyes crinkle with a smile. A soft, gentle smile.

_Nothing´s gonna change my world  
Nothing´s gonna change my world_

"Shinta?"

"Yes?"

"I lo­"

**Bang**.

Blood splatters on the white walls, the sound of the shell clinking on the  
hardwood floor reaches my ear, and she's dead instantly. The first rays of  
dawn cracks through the shutters, creating patterns of light on her eagle  
spread form. Half of her head is a pulpy mess with patches of hair clinging to  
the oozing blood, but her head lolls to the side, and the other half of her  
face is still beautiful. _Sounds of laughter shades of earth are ringing  
through my open views inciting and inviting me._

I couldn't let her finish. Because if I did, I would've been bound to her  
forever. She would become a stain that no amount of cleaning can be erased. I  
drop the gun to my side and prepare to clean. _Limitless undying love which  
shines around me like a million suns. It calls me on and on across the  
universe._

It's better this way.

* * *

END 


End file.
